Chapter 267.3: Battle on 65th Street

It was getting late as darkness gradually enveloped the streets.

As the sun went away, Crunchers continued to emerge from the stores and alleys along the streets. They crawled across the streets full of concrete blocks on hands and feet, and rushed towards the players who were heading towards 65th Street.

However, beasts were beasts after all. They obviously overestimated their own strength, and were soon killed by the bullets. They fell into the gutters and mud pits by the roadside.

And those Crunchers who were lucky enough to rush up to the players also wouldn't be able to do anything when facing the players who were holding weapons and waiting seriously.

A strength type player above LV5 could easily split a Cruncher's head with their 10 points of strength.

There wasn’t even a need to mention those ability users yet.

Crunchers rushing into the crowd were like sheep rushing into a pack of wolves. They were soon chopped into pieces by shovels and hatchets, or simply killed by the players who smashed the butts of their guns into their faces.

In the shadows, a 2 meter long, muscular Creeper climbed out of the window of a tall building on the side using all 4 limbs. It stuck to the wall like a strange long-limbed ape.

Its red eyes stared at the street, with its teeth bared as it released a dangerous growl.

As if it had found an opportunity, it pushed off the wall and its huge body was like a swooping eagle. It lunged at the players' team.

Just when its outstretched long arm was about to tear everyone in front of it into pieces, a whizzing sound filled the air as a thrown javelin blasted its head into pieces.

The Creeper that lost its head was like a kite with a broken string. It fell to the ground creating a muffled thud, kicking up a cloud of cement debris and dust.

"Holy shit. That was awesome!"

"There are players carrying javelins?!"

Seeing the surprised gazes cast on him by the crowd, Kakarot smiled and weighed the javelin in his hand. "Everyone, save some ammo. The number of Crunchers is very small at the moment. If you can solve it with your fists, don't use guns."

Spring Water Commander also nodded. "That's right. Everyone, try not to waste bullets. There is still a tough battle to fight!"

Passing through three blocks in a row...

There were numerous battles, large and small, along the way. Although some ammunition was wasted, there were no casualties.

The iconic clock tower soon came into view, and 65th Street appeared in front of them!

Looking at the silent street ahead, Spring Water Commander heaved a sigh of relief, and his tense nerves relaxed a little.

The Tide hadn’t arrived! It was still not too late!

Without any delay, Spring Water Commander immediately walked up to the team and shouted loudly to all the players, "Platoon A go forward to lay barbed wire. Use shovels to clean up the obstacles on the road as much as possible! Try to move out the concrete blocks that fell into the pit, dig as deep as possible wherever you can. Don't waste time on the places you can't dig!"

"Platoon B is in charge of the buildings on the left, and Platoon C is in charge of the buildings on the right. I need you to deploy fire points along the street to cover every inch of the battlefield!"

"We only have 3 hours left... We will probably encounter the first wave of crunchers before 10:00 at night at the earliest!"

"Everyone, let's get moving!"

What responded to him were loud roars of high morale. Although it attracted a lot of Crunchers, it was not a bad thing.

It was better to solve the troubles before the battle began than to devote energy to dealing with those stragglers on the battlefield after the battle started.

Leading Platoon B players to the left side of the battlefield, Kakarot assigned missions to each team to eliminate the Crunchers in several key buildings. Once he was done, he personally led several machine gunners upstairs.

The supporting weapons assigned to Platoon B included 2 water-cooled Maxim heavy machine guns that had been made by Steel Plant 81, with a total weight of 25 kilograms. It could fire 7mm full-power rifle bullets, and each machine gun was equipped with 6 ammunition boxes with a total of 1,500 rounds of bullets.

In addition, there were 12 20mm Lance anti-tank rifles, and 2 37mm Kontos which had been newly developed and put into production by Steel Plant 81.

If the former could barely be regarded as a gun, the latter obviously reached the category of a cannon.

If a fixed bracket wasn't installed, probably only an ability user of the strength type would be able to control it.

After deploying 2 water-cooled Maxims on the 3rd floor with the best view, Kakarot, who carried the 37mm Kontos, took out the binoculars and looked towards the south.

The fragmented Changling Elevated Highway collapsed into several sections. The long section of the collapsed highway was hundreds of meters long, and the short section was only left with a short bridge. Looking around, it looked like isolated islands standing in the city.

The place farther away was completely blocked by dense fog. Kakarot put away the binoculars and signaled the team members to put on their gas masks.

Not far away, the players of Platoon A had pulled up a circle of barbed wire to seal off several branch roads on both sides of the highway.

Although the few wires may not stop the Crunchers from moving forward, it should be enough to restrict where they moved.

Holding the machine gun with both hands, the constitution type player, Broken Leg Kevin, couldn't help but ask, "How many monsters are there in front..."

Ten Punch Man sighed, "I don't know... The notice says that there are about 100,000, maybe more. With such a thick fog, we can only make a general estimate. Who knows the exact number?”

Ghostbuster asked suddenly, "Do we have 100,000 rounds of ammunition?"

Kakarot was silent for a while, and answered in an uncertain tone, "Maybe... There is a promise from the logistics side that they will do their best to deliver the ammunition to us, but if not..."

As he spoke, he patted the hatchet hanging on his waist. "Just use this."

According to the plan made in advance, If Platoon A was wiped out, Platoon B would fill in its position and move from the left flank to deal with the Tide head-on.

If Platoon B also got taken out, Platoon C would take over.

The number of Crunchers approached would be impossible to calculate.

When a large group of fruiting bodies gathered together, the gray-green spore cloud would be like a solid cloud, and the things inside couldn't be seen clearly.

After the simple fortifications were set up, Platoon A withdrew to their position.

The gray-green thick fog was approaching, and the humans blocking the way had obviously been spotted by the mutants inside the fog. The pace of those Crunchers gradually accelerated, and the ones in front even started to run.

The decaying roars and the creaking sound of the gravel chips being stepped on were constantly coming from the dense fog!

Standing rarely on the front line of the battlefield, Spring Water Commander held his cheap equipment. With a Sickle assault rifle in his hand, he yelled at everyone who had taken up their positions.

"Brothers, the Tide is approaching!"

"We need to stand firm for at least 12 hours and do everything we can to prevent the Tide from going north! We need to buy time for the brothers who are building up positions in the rear!"

"We may not be able to save our progress, but glory will be with us!"

"Everyone..."

"FIRE!"

Ratatatata-!

Flames spewed from the black barrels of their guns.

The first to open fire was the water-cooled Maxim scattered on the many buildings around them.

The projectile bullets were like raindrops, crossing the obstacles under the highway bridge, weaving a net on the fragmented position. They tore the night apart!

Facing the sudden rain of steel, the Crunchers rushed in front fell like wheat being harvested.

Flesh and gunpowder slammed into each other and 1 was obviously stronger than the other!

The Crunchers moved forward without fear of death. As soon as the mutants in front fell down, the mutants in the back stepped on the corpses of those in front and continued to move forward.

In just a few minutes, there were broken body pieces and arms all over the ground. It was just like meat paste out of a meat grinder.

The intensity of the charge was quickly stopped.

Several mutants that escaped were shot and killed by the players of Platoon A with rifles as there was no need to waste machine gun fire on them.

Lying by the window on the third floor, Broken Leg Kevin let go of his index finger that was holding the trigger of the machine gun that was smoking, and heaved a sigh of relief. "This is easier than I imagined!"

At least Marauders knew how to hide, or crawl forward on the ground, throwing smoke bombs for cover.

However, Crunchers seemed to have no concept of death at all. They were even braver than clones.

However, in the face of the firepower of heavy machine guns, this kind of bravery was no different from suicide!

Back in Platoon A’s position...

Battlefield Cheerleader lowered the raised muzzle after killing the last Cruncher. "The Tide appears to have stopped..."

The gunfire had stopped, and the entire street was eerily silent.

Looking ahead solemnly, Spring Water Commander nodded slowly. "The bad news is that the fortifications we spent 2 hours preparing were basically useless."

Darkest gulped in fear. "No... They're still advancing, I can feel their presence, and there's something scary among them."

Battlefield Cheerleader patted him on the shoulder and smiled fearlessly. "You're trying to scare yourself. Even if it's true, we can still take them out."

At this time, a newbie next to him suddenly asked, "Speaking of which, why don't those Crunchers come together? Why do they come in waves?"

Another player also frowned. "That's right... They stopped after only 10 minutes of rushing."

The charge couldn’t even last as long as him...

Spring Water Commander standing in the position said calmly, "When tens of thousands of units are crowded together, the speed of advancement will slow down instead. Being tripped over is a common occurrence. If one person falls down, it will immediately become a mess. In the case of a limited battlefield width, it is best to advance in waves."

"Although these Crunchers are a bit dumb, they are not stupid... There should be something commanding them!"

Looking at the barbed wire fence covered in flesh and blood, and the thickening fog ahead, Spring Water Commander felt a wave of unease.

In the previous wave of mutants, not only did they not see a Tyrant, they barely saw Creepers!

Using cannon fodders to explore the way, and then following up with the main force...

Are these mutants really just fruiting bodies of Slime Mold?

10 minutes passed silently. The next moment, a piercing scream came from within the thick fog.

Everyone's heart tightened in unison and their index fingers quickly reached for the trigger.

𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

With their hearts rising to their throats, a strong sense of crisis surged through their hearts.

Here they come!